The Old Queen

The old queen sat quietly at the bar of the izakaya and smoked an electronic cigarette. Her mascara had run and there were tear marks on her cheeks. She had been crying. Her breath smelled strongly of alcohol. She had been drinking heavily.
Compare adverbs and adjectives:

quietly – quiet
strongly – strong
heavily – heavy

Present Perfect Continuous describes a past action leading to a present result. But the present result is in the past so we use past perfect continuous:

has been crying – there are tears
had been crying – there were tears

has been drinking – smells of alcohol
had been drinking – smelled of alcohol

The Entry of the Novelist

The novelist opened the door of the bar and stepped inside. He looked about for a place to sit. There were a few vacant stools by the bar but none at the tables by the windows. The young writer chose a barstool opposite the Old Queen and sat. He ordered sushi and beer and sat quietly chewing and sipping. He looked at the old queen but she did not look at him. He concentrated on his drink while she concentrated on her drink and her memories.

The Heroes of Universal City

Construction Workers are the Heroes of Universal City. Some of them are rude, rough and uneducated, but the skill in their hands and the bravery in their hearts is what keeps Universal City above the Ooze. Without construction workers from the Top Down Maintenance Teams, the pillars of Universal City would decay and collapse. It is the Construction Workers who make survival possible for everybody in Universal City. They make survival possible. They make life possible.

liked to sit
liked to listen
was often at
often mingled with
walked to
dropped in at
was

The designated Drinking Area around Pillar Seventeen

The Universal Police liked to keep their eyes on the people who frequented the area but they did it with surveillance cameras and robots, not by intervention. They watched everything carefully. There were not enough of them to watch everything that happened. The lack of interference made people in the designated zone feel free and relaxed. They talked easily and confided in each other and a kind of friendly drinking culture had sprung up around the area. Even MIC card holders from the upper levels came down there to let their hair down a little.

liked to keep
watched
were not
made
talked
confided
had sprung up
came down

This was what the Old Queen liked. Humanity. She loved humanity. She loved life itself. The mystery of human life. Each human being is one long story which weaves and intersects with the stories of other human beings. That in itself was interesting enough. But now with robots living their lives in the city side by side with humans and enjoying the same human rights as humans, whole new fields of human behaviour had opened. With the line between man and machine blurred, people acted differently. Society was evolving rapidly.

One Response to “The Old Queen”

Thank you for your emails and interesting lessons. Your teaching method is unique and wonderful.
I think this is only life which we have. I don’t believe in that idea for another future life with imagine so beautiful things in it , which has been our wishes in existing life. This unreasonable image right now is a main key to some leaders to collect some simpleminded and build self bomber from them. It is a poison against humanity, freedom, and all nice and pleasant point of universal fortunate world.
Thanks again,
Mansour

Blog Post Archives

Admin Links

Privacy Policy

At English Conversations we respect and value your privacy. Therefore, we will never share your personal information, such as your name, email, or I.P. address with any third party. That information is only for us to communicate with you. Read more about our Privacy Policy.

Affiliate Program

Currently our affiliate program is closed to new members. Contact us if you are still interested in joining.

Contact Us

Any questions, problems, ideas, or other inquires related to this website, its contents, and/or its creators should be sent to the following email address: info@englishconversations.org. We also welcome your comments on site posts. Thank you!